The origins of the Yakuza date back to the Tokugawa era in Japan, the time of the Shogun when Tokugawa unified the country. It was a time of great change in the land of the Rising Sun.
As a result, a half-million samurai ended up unemployed. If you think things are bad in our economy, imagine what that must have been like…
A bunch of out-of-work highly trained killing machines that needed to eat and have the emptiness filled. [Editor: Okay, trying a little too hard to tie the samurai tattoo stencil into this but we think you get the point: sh!t got real and real fast!]
Most would go on to become merchants, presumably some farmers, others Ronin or “masterless samurai” who wandered the land. But still many slid between the lines…
AND BECAME CRIMINALS!!!
Okay, Tattoo Adam‘s not a criminal, he is the owner of our Waikiki tattoo shop, the best Hawaii tattoo parlor in the state and he’s just holding a painting he did and it’s got a mean-mugging, stink-eyeing looking face that we imagine criminal samurai may look like. Or maybe they looks this:
So now that we got some visuals, back to the story…
As the criminal Samurai attacked towns, Machi-Yokku or “Servants of the Town” started to arise. It was people who wanted to take care of their neighborhood basically, like a Japanese Neighborhood Watch. Well, the Neighborhood Watch worked so well, it exists today.
And that tattoo enthusiasts, would be how the Yakuza began, a community standing up to protect their villages. [Editor: History’s pretty crazy, huh?]
Stay tuned for more tattoo news, more about the Yakuza and tattoos, and feel free to stop by and holler at us for you free consultation. Unless you’re an out-0f-work samurai tattooist. Then we might have some problems…
434 Tattoo
Custom Tattooing LLC.
Directions:
434 Ena Road
Honolulu, Hawaii
96815
Contact:
mailto:adamsiehr@gmail.com
1-808-391-8287
434 Custom Tattooing 